Putin leaking private phone calls in challenge to West

posted at 4:01 pm on March 26, 2014 by Ed Morrissey

Yesterday, Barack Obama shrugged off the suggestion that Vladimir Putin had become an antagonist to US and Western interests. Insisting that the move on Crimea came out of “weakness,” Obama dismissed Russia as only a “regional power,” and that he’s more worried about terrorist attacks than a relaunch of the Cold War. But that dismisses what Putin’s thinking, or more to the point, doing. Eli Lake reports today that Russian intelligence has begun a campaign to undermine Western leaders by tapping their phone conversations and leaking them to the public:

It started in the first week of February. As Ukraine’s political elites were scrambling to form a new government, a recording of a cellphone call emerged between Victoria Nuland, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, and Geoffrey Pyatt, the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. The intercept featured Nuland privately saying, “Fuck the EU,” and disclosed the preferences of two senior U.S. diplomats for who should serve in Ukraine’s interim government.

A month later, a phone call between European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and Estonia’s foreign minister Urmas Paet appeared on the Internet. In the conversation, Paet discussed a theory that the snipers who fired on demonstrators in Ukraine may have been anti-Russian provocateurs.

This Monday, a third private phone call suddenly appeared on the Web. This time it was Yulia Tymeshenko, the former Ukrainian prime minister, saying, “It’s about time we grabbed our guns and killed those damned Russians together with their leader.”

All three intercepted phone calls were invaluable to reinforcing Russia’s desired narrative: depicting the West as meddling in Ukrainian affairs and Ukraine’s new leadership as implacably hostile to Moscow. Not coincidentally, all three calls received major play on the Kremlin-funded Russian propaganda station known as RT. And all three are almost certainly the handiwork of Russia’s intelligence services.

At least this is the assessment of current and former U.S. intelligence officials interviewed by The Daily Beast.

“We see them engaged in counter-information campaigns,” said Mike Rogers, the Republican chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. “They are very aggressive, they are using old style thuggery, cut-your-ear-off KGB tactics and they are using this leaking of collected information to their advantage.”

As one of Eli’s sources notes, it’s a little difficult for the US to complain about tapped phones in the post-Snowden era. It does, however, highlight just how basic wiretapping is to the spy trade. The difference here is that the US wasn’t publicizing the contents for PR purposes, certainly not as blatantly as Russia appears to have done so. The lack of subtlety demonstrates the kind of aggression that has NATO concerned about the Russian military buildup on Ukraine’s border.

Obama’s former Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, disagrees that Russia’s aggression is just a regional issue, and takes the West to task for its “anemic” response in today’s Wall Street Journal:

The only way to counter Mr. Putin’s aspirations on Russia’s periphery is for the West also to play a strategic long game. That means to take actions that unambiguously demonstrate to Russians that his worldview and goals—and his means of achieving them—over time will dramatically weaken and isolate Russia. …

So far, however, the Western response has been anemic. Mr. Putin is little influenced by seizure of personal assets of his cronies or the oligarchs, or restrictions on their travel. Unilateral U.S. sanctions, save on Russian banks, will not be effective absent European cooperation. The gap between Western rhetoric and Western actions in response to out-and-out aggression is a yawning chasm. The message seems to be that if Mr. Putin doesn’t move troops into eastern Ukraine, the West will impose no further sanctions or costs. De facto, Russia’s seizure of Crimea will stand and, except for a handful of Russian officials, business will go on as usual.

No one wants a new Cold War, much less a military confrontation. We want Russia to be a partner, but that is now self-evidently not possible under Mr. Putin’s leadership. He has thrown down a gauntlet that is not limited to Crimea or even Ukraine. His actions challenge the entire post-Cold War order including, above all, the right of independent states to align themselves and do business with whomever they choose.

Tacit acceptance of settling old revanchist scores by force is a formula for ongoing crises and potential armed conflict, whether in Europe, Asia or elsewhere. A China behaving with increasing aggressiveness in the East and South China seas, an Iran with nuclear aspirations and interventionist policies in the Middle East, and a volatile and unpredictableNorth Korea are all watching events in Europe. They have witnessed the fecklessness of the West in Syria. Similar division and weakness in responding to Russia’s most recent aggression will, I fear, have dangerous consequences down the road.

Russia has increased its influence in Syria, Egypt, and Iran. Indeed, Russia’s position in the Middle East hasn’t been this strong since Anwar Sadat expelled the Soviet Union from Egypt in the 1970s. Yet the president continues to make his preposterous claims. In public. Repeatedly.

I’m starting to be convinced this isn’t simply a talking point by a president on the defensive. I think he actually believes what he’s saying. Which means he is losing touch with reality. Which may be the most worrisome thing of all.

Hey, Michael won two Pulitzers for his editorial cartoons. Maybe I can get one for puns? Er … naah.

Also, be sure to check out Ramirez’ terrific collection of his works: Everyone Has the Right to My Opinion, which covers the entire breadth of Ramirez’ career, and it gives fascinating look at political history. Read my review here, and watch my interviews with Ramirez here and here. And don’t forget to check out the entire Investors.com site, which has now incorporated all of the former IBD Editorials, while individual investors still exist.

Update: Ukrainian women are doing their best to promote solidarity by going on strike … against Russian lovers.

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I confess: I believe it is a good thing for obama to be humiliated, repeatedly, on the world stage. he and his way of thinking are an existential danger to America, and it is good for the vacuity of his mind to be on wide display.

The Yulia Tymoshenko conversation is damning. And this is the woman the US supports for the Ukranian presidency?

The report that Ukraine’s prospective president Yulia Tymoshenko has called for exterminating Russians has now been reported in mainstream media outlets including the Washington Post and the Daily Beast.

This is a partial transcript of the leaked phone conversation ala Victoria Nuland:

“It’s going too far! Bugger! We must grab arms and go whack those damn katsaps [a Ukrainian word used to refer to the Russians in a negative tone] together with their leader”, “I’ll use all my
connections, I’ll raise the whole world – as soon as I’m able to – in order to make sure.. Bugger!.. not even scorched earth won’t remain where Russia stands. “We are going to take it to the Hague
International Criminal Court.”

Asked,rhetorically, by her counterpart, “what should we do now with the 8 million Russians that stayed in Ukraine. They are outcasts“… she replies: “They must be killed with nuclear weapons.”

I’m starting to be convinced this isn’t simply a talking point by a president on the defensive. I think he actually believes what he’s saying. Which means he is losing touch with reality. Which may be the most worrisome thing of all.<

Ya think?? Whatever these pantloads (i.e., the leftists) believe is their reality “If I think it, then it is so.” Until reality jumps up and punches therm in face, and even then, they convince themselves that whatever is happening is not truly happening.

The beat goes on. Power politics of old have given way to the powerless politics of today’s weak, feckless West, ‘lead’ by the weakest, most feckless tool since Carter. The diff is the exponentially increased craziness of the Middle East. The US will leave the Afghans to the tender mercies of the Pakis, who will attempt to maneuver and control the Taliban/Al Q’s, et al, to their own purposes of making Afghanistan a client state, only to be eaten alive by by their clients. India will be left to deal as best they can with the cesspool of murderous Muzlim radicals running amok on their northern border. Kashmir, as usual, will be the flash point. Nukes will abound, with an unknown future. China will get involved. Russia will turn its gaze back to the south. NATO will breathe a sigh of relief, while the EU will beg for more gas and order another round of lattes, at least, for those countries still in the EU. The US will suck its collective thumb and order another cut to the military…

So, supposedly, the issue was not what was leaked but the scandalous fact that it did leak. This is pure spin control.

The lack of subtlety demonstrates the kind of aggression that has NATO concerned about the Russian military buildup on Ukraine’s border.

Victoria Nuland is in YouTube picking out the new national leader of the government that will exist after her five billion dollar coup, and freed corrupt oligarch former Ukrainian PM Yulia Tymoshenko is also on YouTube showing a violent, genocidal hatred of Russians worthy of Der Fuhrer, and the only issue is Russian aggression?

Victoria Nuland is in YouTube picking out the new national leader of the government that will exist after her five billion dollar coup, and freed corrupt oligarch former Ukrainian PM Yulia Tymoshenko is also on YouTube showing a violent, genocidal hatred of Russians worthy of Der Fuhrer, and the only issue is Russian aggression?

Obama is WEAK WEAK WEAK. Putin is a former KGB official. He is like a shark and Obama is chum in the water. Of course a shark will act like a shark when he sees weakness in his opponent. Obama signaled weakness in the first year of his administration when he pulled out the weapons in Poland. These are dangerous times. A weak President will get us all killed.

Obama is desperately trying to mouth some turn of phrase so magical that it becomes associated with him forever, much like Churchill’s “never has so much been owed to so few….” speech, or Clintons’ “I did not have sex with that woman” gaffe.

My guess is Obama has already spoken his “phrase to remember him by”, and it ain’t one of his platitudes. There are so many to choose from.

“You didn’t build that”
“…….skyrocket”
“If you like your plan…..”
“…costs for the average family will come down 3000%”

I don’t know what the inscription on his statue will say, but it should say, simply, “JERK”

Speaking of Leaks,….Yulia is talking to Nestor Shufrych
and discuss’s what she would like to do to Puty and the
rest (8 Million Russians)

Gawd,..this Women is STRONG:
============================

In latest wiretapping leak, Yulia Tymoshenko appears to say ‘nuclear weapons’ should be used to kill Russians

By Adam Taylor
March 25 at 12:17 pm

On Monday night, a leaked recording purporting to be of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko appeared on the video sharing Web site YouTube.

According to the Moscow Times, the recording, apparently made March 8, details a conversation between Tymoshenko and Nestor Shufrych from Ukraine’s National Security Council, and has Tymoshenko suggesting that Ukrainians should kill Russians, and, in particular, Russian President Vladimir Putin. The recording, which may have been altered, also apparently features Tymoshenko suggesting that the 8 million Russians living in Ukraine should be killed with “nuclear weapons.”

The video containing the recording was initially uploaded to a YouTube account under the name Sergiy Vechirko, and has since been widely shared on pro-Kremlin media outlets, with Russia Today producing its own version with translation:

I can’t WAIT for Putin to release personal info on the POS including his school records.

Can’t wait.

wyntre9 on March 26, 2014 at 4:18 PM

Me too.

Do you think that even if these records indicate a D student who is shown as a foreign exchange student from Kenya that the loser-in-chief will enjoy a 40% approval rate? To his base this will probably be a revenue enhancement! They will say “hey he’s just like us, stupid. That makes him a man of the people!” and
“so what if he is from Kenya, whats wrong with Kenya? Are you racist?”

What she said gives Putin another excuse to take the rest of Ukraine in self-defense as a pre-emptive strike. We invaded Iraq because we thought Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

Ukraine use to have nukes. Have they all been accounted for?

Kaffa on March 26, 2014 at 5:04 PM

Kaffa:

Ya but the USA, didn’t annex Iraq,

and I hate
to Defend this one,..Hopeys words!!

Obama visits Europe, March 2014
3h
President Obama notes he didn’t support Iraq invasion, but says that wasn’t as bad as what Russia doing because US didn’t ‘annex’ Iraq or use its resources – @DomenicoPBS
see original on twitter.com

As one of Eli’s sources notes, it’s a little difficult for the US to complain about tapped phones in the post-Snowden era. It does, however, highlight just how basic wiretapping is to the spy trade. The difference here is that the US wasn’t publicizing the contents for PR purposes, certainly not as blatantly as Russia appears to have done so.

Spying on my mother’s phone calls isn’t the same as intercepting Putin’s calls. The NSA *#@%ed up when they started to treat citizens like the enemy, and they’re reaping everything they @$%@$ deserve.

The only way to counter Mr. Putin’s aspirations on Russia’s periphery is for the West also to play a strategic long game.

This is unpossible for our affirmative action president. The guy has one play in his book and only in the USA does it work……RACIST!!!!111!!1elebinty. Putin don’t give two sh*ts about Obama’s tactics because they are joke. Obama’s strategic thinking is nonexistent. I think all of America knows why those college records were sealed and tens of millions spent to keep them that way.

Ukraine’s maritime forces have been dealt a heavy blow by the Russian intervention in Crimea, with 12 of its 17 major warships and much of its naval aviation assets falling under Moscow’s control.

In the eight days since the controversial referendum on 16 March that opened the door for Crimea to be absorbed in the Russian Federation, almost every Ukrainian naval base and ship on the peninsula has been seized by Russian forces or local pro-Moscow self defence units.

The scale of the crisis facing the Ukrainian navy is apparent from the fact that around 12,000 of its 15,450 personnel were based in Crimea when Russia intervened on 27 February. Over the past three weeks, the majority of the Ukrainian military personnel on Crimea have defected to the Russian military or resigned from military service, according to announcements by the new pro-Kremlin administration in Crimea. Some independent media reports appear to broadly support Russian claims in this regard.

In a major blow to its pride, the Ukrainian navy’s commander, Admiral Serhiy Hayduk, was arrested by Russian forces when the navy headquarters in Sevastapol was seized on 19 March, and was unceremoniously dropped off by Russian troops at the new “border” checkpoint with Ukraine in the north of Crimea. Those of the admiral’s sailors who wanted to continue to serve in Kiev’s navy had to make their own way off the peninsula in civilian cars or on public transport.
(More…….)
=================

I don’t have one problem, of what she said,
Ukraine is fighting (soon to be)for there/thier
lives!

canopfor on March 26, 2014 at 4:46 PM

What she said gives Putin another excuse to take the rest of Ukraine in self-defense as a pre-emptive strike. We invaded Iraq because we thought Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

Ukraine use to have nukes. Have they all been accounted for?

Kaffa on March 26, 2014 at 5:04 PM

Oh puh-lease, silliest nonsense/theory ever, she’s not the president or the PM or anything currently, she is a private citizen, she can say whatever she wants…and btw, by the same token, I am guessing the Israelis too have a right to nuke the heck out of the Iranians, since Ahmadinnerjacket started the ‘tough (read gibberish) talk’ about ‘nuke them all’, ‘wipe them Joos off the map’, etc…wonder what’s Putin theory on that…not to mention that the Ahmadinnerperson was a head of state and not private citizen at the time he made the incriminatory statements in question…

Can the free world take anymore of Obama/Hillary/Kerry’s SMART Diplomacy?

Obama said he wanted to undo what Reagan accomplished. He succeeded on the economy within months and now he is accomplishing the reversal of Reagan’s foreign policy achievement. Hope all the stupid voters are happy.

Tymoshenko was the former Ukrainian Prime Minister, was arrested for corruption, and now intends to run for the position of President in May, 2014.

wyntre9 on March 26, 2014 at 6:07 PM

Oh, jee, thanks, thanks for the effort to wiki that up :) FYI, I knew that already..and read my post again, I said ‘currently she is a private citizen’… running for office or holding offices in the past does not one PM or official makes…pretty sure that when our one and only Dhimmi Carter goes around the world and spreads his nonsense around, he does it as a private citizen and it’s ok, so she can say whatever she pleases too, no matter how silly or nonsensical…as for the ‘she has been arrested for corruption’ bit, lol :) by whom, by the corrupted regime of a corrupted (and currently ousted) president :), rright…you might want get off your vicarious high horses when you talk about that part of the world, they are all corrupt there, including your puppet master idol currently in Kremlin…

RT has been doing some good coverage from the Russian point of view, and is more reliable than sources like MSNBC and CNN (when they can tear themselves away from talking about Black Holes and psychics).

Rumor is that he was executed but I haven’t seen anything convincing about this.

her ally Lazarenko was prosecuted in the United States, where he was convicted and imprisoned for money laundering and other crimes. Tymoshenko was not charged in that case and she has denied wrongdoing, but she was named explicitly as part of the conspiracy detailed in the indictment.

“Lazarenko received money from companies owned or controlled by Ukrianian [sic] business woman Yulia Tymoshenko … in exchange for which Lazarenko exercised his official authority in favor of Tymoshenko’s companies, and … Lazarenko failed to disclose to the people and government of Ukraine that he was receiving significant amounts of money from these companies.”

Raymond “Jerry” Roberts – the last of a top World War Two codebreaking team at Bletchley Park – has died, aged 93, following a short illness.
Captain Roberts, from Liphook in Hampshire, was part of a group that cracked the German High Command’s Tunny code at the British listening post.
Their decrypts made it possible to read Hitler’s own messages during the war.
The team is credited with helping to shorten the war by at least two years

kcewa on March 26, 2014 at 4:30 PM

What a shame there aren’t any clever committed people like that now. On the other hand maybe there are and we just don’t know about it.

RT has been doing some good coverage from the Russian point of view, and is more reliable than sources like MSNBC and CNN (when they can tear themselves away from talking about Black Holes and psychics).

Rumor is that he was executed but I haven’t seen anything convincing about this.

The Right Sector has vowed revenge.

sharrukin on March 26, 2014 at 6:21 PM

sharrukin: What a boinking mess,….Ukraine infighting,..while the Rooskies
are taking Ukraine!!:)

Yeah, in other words she was exonerated of any wrongdoings in that particular case, so why exactly sre you mentioning it, again? and why, oh why, may I ask, don’t you get through the same pain to wiki and document all the corruption and wrongdoings of your cult leader Putin and his administration/acolytes, his Mafia bedfellows a.o… oh, wait, might it be because he sets up, imprisons and/or kills most of those who try to…ever heard of Mikhail Khodorkovsky? how about you use your wiki skills on that one, then come back and report…

No need for insults just because you didn’t like what I pointed out. I did not need to “wiki” the info as I am aware of who she is.

She is far from just a “private citizen.” She was one of the ringleaders of the coup and is a primary player in rigging, er, planning the new elections.

As for my allegiance with the puppet master – um – no. I just don’t believe the BS created nonstop by Pravda on the Potomac and I sure as hell don’t want to see the U.S. involved in the Ukraine even though, as the Victoria Nuland tape proved, we are already meddling away trying to install the government of the IMF’s and the EU’s choice.

I didn’t believe for one minute that the EuroMaiden movement was anything other than another run-of-the-mill internal power struggle – not some friggin “Arab Spring in the Ukraine” moment.

We do agree on one thing. They are all corrupt. And so we should stay out of it.

What this means is that The Interpreter confirmed troop movements before the Crimean referendum (jump to update 1615 for details) , and Storyful and the Open Newsroom have now confirmed troop movements in the last two days, matching eyewitness reports.

The Russian army is on the move, and as one can see from the videos, they are packing some serious firepower.

Thank you, Mr. Putin (and Mr. Snowden) enabling the world to really know what is going on. Obama, the weakling, vs. Putin, the strong, is very entertaining. Obama has weakened our country to the point where we have no credibility, no true representation in the world, and claims he wins! He is full of BS and hubris, nothing more. So, Obama doesn’t like “tapping”, but thinks he has the right to do so. Get a grip, Obama the imbecile, you ain’t a god and never will be. We need you to resign so we can get rid of your administration, and give America back to us and not to you puppeteers. You are a loser in the grand style and must be arrested, tried, and hung as the traitor you are. You are nothing but a 2-bit lousy actor on the world stage.